Second half changes backfire on Sunderland as they suffer 4-1 Spurs defeat

Chris Young

Sunderland were coping with Tottenham's pressure relatively comfortably as the clock ticked towards the hour mark at White Hart Lane.

With the game intriguingly-poised at 1-1, Sam Allardyce attempted to shore up Sunderland's rearguard by bringing on new signing Jan Kirchhoff for his Sunderland debut and switching to five at the back.

But the move back-fired spectacularly, as Sunderland's hopes of building on two back-to-back wins were crushed in the final half-hour.

Up to that point, Sunderland had been well-organised and solid, with Patrick van Aanholt even opening the scoring just before half-time, albeit it was short-lived as Christian Eriksen equalised within two minutes.

Within a minute, Sunderland fell behind to Mousa Dembele's shot, before Eriksen's shot deflected in off Kirchhoff. The German then conceded a penalty, converted by Harry Kane, to give Spurs a decisive 4-1 win.

Jordan Pickford made a confident start to his Premier League debut after an excellent save denied Kane a fifth minute opener.

The England striker curled a low right-footed shot from 25 yards which bounced awkwardly in front of Pickford, but the 21-year-old tipped the ball around the post at full stretch.

Moments later, Dele Alli blasted over the bar from 12 yards out after Sunderland were unable to clear their lines and the ball bobbled around in the penalty area.

But the opening was far more sedate than at Swansea three days earlier, with Sunderland content to sit deep and soak up the hosts' pressure.

Sunderland almost undid all their hard work when the 35th minute when they caught on the break from their own corner after an awful hospital pass from van Aanholt to Jeremain Lens.

As Spurs came forward in numbers, Dembele manoeuvred the ball to Erik Lamela on the left-hand side of the area, but the Argentine's shot across goal was wide of the far post.

But five minutes before half-time, Sunderland went ahead with their first meaningful effort of the game.